Harry Potter Director Chris Columbus Shares His Thoughts on Upcoming TV Adaptation — Plus Those Voldemort Rumors (Exclusive)

Chris Columbus is excited about the next chapter in the Harry Potter universe.

The director, 66, spoke exclusively with PEOPLE at the film’s Los Angeles premiere Nosferatuwhere he reacted to the news that Harry Potter is being adapted into a television series for HBO, following a successful run of films — two of which were directed by Columbus.

“I think it’s a spectacular idea, because there’s a certain limitation when you’re making a movie,” Columbus said.

“Our film was two hours and 40 minutes long, and the other one was almost as long,” he continued, referring to the 2001 running time. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and in 2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secretsrespectively.

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Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson in the movie ‘Harry Potter’.

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According to Columbus, he and others who worked on the first two Harry Potter movies “tried to get as much as possible from the book.”

Given that HBO’s upcoming project, which is set to begin production soon, will be a series, there will be room to include more from JK Rowling’s books, including plots that may have been previously cut from the movies.

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“The fact that they have free time [multiple] episode for each book, I think that’s fantastic,” Columbus said. “You get to get all the things in the show that we didn’t get a chance to do … all those great scenes that we just couldn’t put in the movies.”

Director — who also led Alone in the house, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and Mrs. Doubtfire — added, “I’m looking forward to seeing what they try to do with it. I think it’s great.”

Cillian Murphy, Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort in ‘Harry Potter’.

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While the cast and production of the TV series is still underway, fans have already started casting their dream actors who they would like to see in the new Harry Potter roles.

One popular cast that has gained popularity online is Cillian Murphy who will play the villainous Lord Voldemort, previously played by Ralph Fiennes in Harry Potter film series.

“Well, Cillian is one of my favorite actors, so that would be amazing,” Columbus told PEOPLE. (Fiennes, 62, even backed Murphy, 48, for the role during one episode Watch what’s happening livewhere he said: “Cillian is a fantastic actor … I’d be for Cillian.”)

All eight of them Harry Potter movies are available for streaming.

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Source: HIS Education